Bottle-stopper.



Patented May 16, 1911.

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JAMES S. PORTER, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

BOTTLE-STOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1911.

Application led August 18, 1910. Serial No. 577,761.

To all whom it' may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES S. PORTER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buifalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Stoppers, of `which agoods and thereby prevent injury both to the manufacturer whose bott-lesmay be used improperly and also protect customers against deception.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure l is a vertical section of theupper or neck part of a bottle equipped with my improved stopper, theparts being in the position which they occupy when the bottle is in anormal upright position. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the posit-ionof the parts when the bottle is in an inclined or pouring position.Figs. 3 and 4c are horizontal sections in lines 3 8 and 1-4, Fig. l.Figs. 5 and 6 are detached perspective views of the parts of thestopper.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views.

A represents'the bottle and a the neck thereof. The outer part of thebore of the neck is cylindrical or of uniform diameter, as shown at c,while its inner part is enlarged in diameter, as shown at CZ, and isconstructed to form an outwardly-facing an-I nular concave valve seat cat the inner end of the enlargement d and an inwardly facing annularshoulder f at the outer end of said enlargement.

G represents the valve or closure of the stopper and g the stem thereof.This valve is preferably of substantially cylindrical form and has itsface L arranged on the underside thereof and constructed of concave formcorresponding to the valve seat of the neck.

The Valve is movable freely lengthwise in the enlargement d of the neck,so as to engage or disengage its face from the valve seat and eitherclose or open communication between the interior of the bottle and theThe diameter of the valve is less than that of the bore of theenlargement d,

so as to permit the liquid contents of the bottle to flow outwardly pastthe valve when the latter is moved away from the seat upon tilting thebottle. The flat outer or rear side of the valve is prevented fromengaging the outer shoulder f of the enlargement when the valve movesoutwardly by means of a pair of stop lugs h1, 71.1 arrangeddiametrically opposite each other on the rear side of the valve andadapted to engage with the outer shoulder f, thereby permitting freeescape of the liquid from the bottle when the same is tilted, whichwould not be possible if the rear side of the valve were permitted toengage the shoulder f. The valve is pref- `erably constructed of cork sothat it is buoyant, but if desired the same may be constructed of othersuitable material.

The stem of the valve may be constructed of glass or other suitablematerial and is secured at its front or inner end to the outer side ofthe valve while its outer end slides lengthwise in the contracted outerpart of the bore of the neck,ffor which purpose the stem is made ofsuiiiciently smaller diameter than the valve and made of Vsuch lengththat its outer end is still within the contracted outer part of the neckwhen the valve is closed.

The stem of the valve lits the outer part of the bore of the necksufficiently close to longitudinal grooves or channels y' through whichthe liquid passes. A deflection or band is preferably formed spirally ineach of these grooves, as shown at c in Figs. 1 and 5, whereby the innerand outer parts of each groove are arranged out of line with each other.Vhen pushing a wire through a groove j it results in bending or turningthe wire to one side as its front end engages the shoulder formed by thedeflection k, thereby defeating any attempt to interfere with theworking of the stopper by this means.

Inasmuch as it is very diiiicult, if not impossible, to grasp the valvestem at its outer end by a tool, the possibility of relling the bottleby resorting to this means of holding the valve in an abnormal positionis reduced to a minimum.

The valve and stem may be connected in various ways but preferably byproviding the inner end of the stem with an inwardly-project-ing spur Lwhich is pushed through a central opening Z formed in the valve betweenits stop lugs 71,1, h1. The inner end of this spur is pointed andprovided with a head or enlargement m which forms an outwardly-facingshoulder n on said stem at the outer side of said head. As the spur ispushed through the opening in the cork valve, the fibers of the latterare distended by the pointed inner end of the head but these fibersagain contract at the outer end of this head adjacent to t-he shouldern, whereby the on its seat, as shown in F ig. l, and prevents theintroduction of any liquid into the bottle. Upon tilting the bottle, asshown in Fig. 2, the valve moves away from its seat and its stop lugslil engage the shoulder f, thereby permitting the liquid to escape. Anyattempt to introduce liquid into the bottle while in this last mentionedposition will be frustrated by reason of the fact that the cork valvewill rise against the valve seat and prevent admission of liquid to theinterior of the bottle.

After the bottle has been originally filled with liquid, the stopper ispushed downwardly in the neck so that the valve remains within thecontracted outer part oi the neck, whereby the valve is contracted andserves asa cork or stopper to close the bottle while the same is beingshipped or stored, thereby dispensing with a separate cork or closurefor this purpose. Preparatory to pouring liquid'from the bottle it isonly necessary to push the stopper inwardly sufficiently to carry thevalve into the enlarged inner part of the neck and when this is done thevalve expands so that its lugs h1 will engage the shoulder f upon movingthe stopper outwardly and thus prevent withdrawal of the stopper.

I claim as my invention:

The combination of a bottle having the outer part of the bore of itsneck contracted and the inner part of said bore enlarged and providedwith a valve seat at the inner end of said enlargement, and a stopperhaving an enlarged valve arranged in said enlarge ment of the neck andadapted to engage the face on its front side with said valve seatandprovided with a central opening and with stop lugs on its outer side,and a contracted valve stem arranged in the contracted part of said neckand providedwith a spur arranged in said opening and also provided withnotches on its periphery with which said lugs engage.

l/Vitness my hand this 16th day of August, 1910.

JAMES S. PORTER.

Witnesses:

THEO. H. Pori), ANNA Hniois.

Copies of this-patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressingthev Commissioner of Patents,

f Washington, 1). G.

